BY STEVE NUBIE The Winter Solstice occurs on December 21, 2016 this year. But how it’s been celebrated over Millennia may surprise you. The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year in terms of daylight. Curiously, our Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere is the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s summer on the Southside of the planet and for them it’s the Summer Solstice and their longest day of the year. Regardless of the differences created by the orbit of the planet Earth around the sun, the Winter Solstice had significance for cultures around the world that has led to things like Yuletide, Christmas, Yalda Night and Saturnalia. If some of those events sound obscure to you, we’re just getting started.
↧